Supreme Court declines case accusing Donald Rumsfeld of torture

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal arguing the US government violated the constitutional rights of citizen Jos? Padilla by detaining and subjecting him to harsh interrogation as an enemy combatant suspected of having links to Al Qaeda.

By Warren Richey,?Staff writer / June 11, 2012

In this January 2011 photo, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is interviewed at his office in Washington, D.C..

Jacquelyn Martin/AP/File

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The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a case examining whether government officials who order the alleged torture of a US citizen on American soil can be sued for violating the citizen?s constitutional rights.

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Apparently, the answer is no.

The high court rejected, without comment, an appeal filed on behalf of former enemy combatant Jos? Padilla, who was held for 3-1/2 years in military detention. Mr. Padilla was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques to break him psychologically and force him to reveal everything he might know about Al Qaeda.?

?The Supreme Court?s refusal to consider Jose Padilla?s case leaves in place a blank check for government officials to commit any abuse in the name of national security, even the brutal torture of an American citizen in an American prison,? said Padilla?s lawyer, Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union.

?To date, not a single victim of the Bush administration?s torture regime has received his day in court,? Mr. Wizner added in a statement.

?It is precisely the role of the courts to ensure that allegations of grave misconduct by executive branch officials receive fair adjudication,? he said. ?That vital role does not evaporate simply because those officials insist that their actions are too sensitive for judicial review.?

US citizen as enemy combatant

Padilla?s case rose to prominence because he was the first American citizen arrested in the US to be designated an enemy combatant and subjected to open-ended detention and harsh interrogation tactics.

Lawyers working on his behalf waged a multiyear effort to win a measure of judicial review to determine the legality of his detention. After years of inconclusive litigation and with the Supreme Court poised to finally consider his appeal, the government rendered the case moot by transferring Padilla from military detention to the criminal justice system.

After a trial in federal court in Miami, he was convicted of conspiring to provide material support to Islamic terror groups. He is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence.

In 2007, prior to his criminal trial, Padilla and his mother, Estela Lebron, filed a civil lawsuit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other military officials for authorizing and directing his alleged torture.

Lawyers acting on Padilla?s behalf sought a court judgment that their client?s treatment violated the Constitution. They also asked for nominal damages of $1 from each of the named defendants.

Path through the courts

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